Wearing Losers' Looks

Listless Depaul Falls To Marquette

January 13, 2000|By Malcolm Moran, Tribune Staff Writer.

The looks on their faces said more than anything.

More than the disturbing message the scoreboard sent to DePaul's basketball ambition. More than the sight of Marquette's unexpected celebration on the floor of Allstate Arena. More than the breakdowns the Blue Demons experienced for much of Wednesday night.

They were looks of disgust after DePaul's 69-60 loss to unranked Marquette, a game that will provide the Blue Demons with a point of reference or stand as evidence of their overlooked limitations.

"I don't think the guys came out to play and I hope we take this as a wakeup call," said Quentin Richardson, who scored just four of his 17 points over the final 17 minutes 16 seconds. "None of us played well, myself included."

"We got outcoached," said DePaul coach Pat Kennedy. "We got outhustled. We got outrebounded. We got out everythinged. This is about as poorly as we've played for 40 minutes in our three seasons."

That period, since Kennedy was imported from Florida State to reconstruct the program, includes superior efforts from inferior teams. DePaul (11-4 overall, 2-1 Conference USA) lost to the Golden Eagles for the second time in their last three meetings. Marquette (9-5, 2-1) made a statement in the 14th game under coach Tom Crean.

Marquette won by successfully challenging DePaul's collective identity. Just once this season have the Blue Demons failed to outrebound an opponent. Marquette's 28 rebounds matched DePaul. The Golden Eagles consistently created open shots, held the Demons to a pair of three-point baskets and withstood a DePaul second-half run that eliminated a 12-point lead.

For one night, at least, Marquette had answers for everything DePaul tried. Cordell Henry, a high school teammate of Richardson's at Young, scored 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, 4 of 7 from three-point range. The two friends had talked Sunday, and their conversation carried onto the court in the decisive minutes.

"He said, `I'm going to take it over,"' Henry said. "That's exactly what he said: `I'm going to take this game over."'

Early in the second half, it appeared as if Richardson's ability to dominate would become a necessity for the second consecutive game. He had been responsible for Saturday's victory over North Carolina-Charlotte, and now he was imposing his will again.

Richardson maneuvered for a shot from along the right baseline and drew a foul. He quickly released a three-point shot. He reached high above the crowd to convert an offensive rebound with 15:53 to play.

But he had just one more field goal, a result of DePaul's disjointed effort. Other than Burno, who had six assists and two turnovers, the Demons had five assists and turned the ball over 12 times. With Lance Williams limited to 10 first-half minutes because of the deliberate recovery from his broken right foot and with Bobby Simmons facing foul problems, DePaul's inside game was limited for much of the night.

After a drive and foul shot by Burno brought the Demons within two points with 2:58 to play, Marquette responded with a 12-3 run to take final control. A dunk by Steven Hunter, who scored 10 points, brought the Demons within nine with 20.6 seconds to go. A glare from Kennedy as his team took a passive, resigned stance in the final moments, symbolized DePaul's night.

"When they were executing, we were not," Kennedy said. "I didn't feel like any of our guys played well at all. We're going to learn a lot about ourselves in the next two road games."

Kennedy did not have to say that some lessons will be conducted before those games take place.